I was reading a post earlier titled What a Privilege. It’s very well-written and I encourage you to check out the blog. He tends to write about interesting topics, and in this particular post he’s talking about the election.

So let’s jump into it.

The first part I disagreed with was this:

As an older white male PoC are justifiably giving me side-eye. I’m trying to appear as disconcerted and troubled as possible (which has been easy to do, because I am), stalling for time to find a few t-shirts emblazoned with something that makes crystal clear that I didn’t support any of this.

This paragraph just drips with white guilt. There’s just so much wrong with this sentiment.

Why is it justifiable to give you side looks because you have white skin?

Why are you trying to look disconcerted? You sound like your life is in danger or something. Take a deep breath. You live in a democracy and even if you did vote for Trump, that doesn’t give people the right to judge you based on your skin color.

Why do you need T-shirts? Such virtue signalling is embarrassing.

Just as an aside, what the hell does ‘Person of Color’ mean?

Such a crap term. I’m ‘white’ so does that make me a person of no color? I’m not actually white. I’m more a brownish pink so I definitely have color. It’s just a term meant to proliferate this crazy ass identity politics that seems so prevalent now. One more way to put people into a box based on skin color.

In the meantime, I’m stuck playing the suddenly popular game “Which of You Crackers Voted for Trump?”

That’s some racist shit. Could you imagine if you changed the word ‘cracker’ in that sentence to a different derogatory term?

Lots of different people voted for Trump. I would hazard a guess that the far majority of people who did vote for Trump, didn’t do so based on the color of their skin. If this ‘game’ you speak of is so popular, maybe try telling the people playing it to stop, because it’s racist as hell.

Nowadays with Facebook, it’s easy to find the proud deplorables amongst family and acquaintances. In the olden days, Know-Nothings would sneak around in the shadows but now they proudly display their ignorance to everyone.

So if a family member you previously respected voted for Trump, you just throw them into a deplorable box? You don’t even ask them why or try to understand their reasoning?

Wow. That’s harsh.

He then goes on to blame White Evangelical voters for Trumps win:

Easily held in thrall by the single issue of abortion allows the expedited, short-circuited, easy-thinking these voters prefer. The issue easily fits into their narratives, allowing the dramatic staged event of decent folks with “values” versus unfeeling, atheistic baby killers.

Not all evangelicals are single issue voters. Sure, I think Trump’s views on abortion helped him win that voting demographic, but I don’t think that was the only issue. In fact, Trump divided evangelical groups, especially after his video tapes were released:

Trump’s candidacy led to divisions within different evangelical camps. Liberty University Jerry Falwell Jr.’s endorsement of Trump caused division on his own campus. A prominent evangelical theologian Wayne Grudem endorsed Trump, pulled back his endorsement after the video tapes came out, then re-endorsed him.

There was certainly talk going on within those camps, and abortion wasn’t the only topic. Trump wasn’t an easy pill to swallow, but Hillary was viewed as such a bad candidate (and the Democratic party should have known that and almost certainly did before nominating her) that many felt forced to vote for Trump. If the Dem’s had put a viable candidate up there, they almost certainly would have convinced moderate right-leaning evangelicals to vote for them, because they were deeply divided on voting for Trump to begin with.

I debated people who claimed in all seriousness that Hillary Clinton was possessed by a demon. Where do you go from there?

I would suggest atheism. Just sayin’.

These political Christians that are clearly commanded not to hate and slander then lustily spent the past 2 years trashing the Clintons (again), using everything from juvenile ad hominem insults to outright fabrications.

Well, I don’t think it unusual for religious folk to be hypocritical. The bible says all sorts of things that Christians don’t normally do. I mean, Jesus made it quite clear that being rich was not the way to get into heaven and he commanded people to give their wealth away.

Don’t see many Christians doing that, although there are a few who do. Hell, have a look at most large churches. They scream wealth.

They eagerly hopped into the same nasty basket as the KKK, internet trolls, selfish “libertarians”, misanthropic atheists, and outright anarchists, all with a with prideful irreverence for our highest office.

Just because you vote the same way as a racist piece of garbage, doesn’t mean you hold their values. You likely voted for different reasons. Each of you sees the world through different eyes. What’s important to one person might not be as important to another. Some people are more informed than others etc.

People need to stop trying to put others into neatly tied boxes. We are all individuals. We are not prepackaged identity cults.

These hollow, politicized, husks of Christians likely won’t know shame no matter the outcome of this presidency they labored to bring to power. They will start by praying for Trump to have wisdom and end by praying for forgiveness. And they will justify any outcome, good or bad, as being part of the divine plan, for a God whose teachings they so readily sold for thirty pieces of worthless silver and restitution can never be made.

You might very well be right. I’m not big into prayer, since I think it’s basically a waste of time.

However, the Right is rising all over the West. Trump is just one sign of this so we better start paying attention. There are reasons for this and you can’t just stick the blame onto the lapels of white people or white evangelicals. The rise of the Right is even happening in countries that aren’t all that religious.

If I had to guess, two major motivators to this rise in the Right is people’s dissatisfaction over immigration policies. People are prevented from discussing it by charges of racism if you dare to speak your mind.

The other side to that coin is people are tired of PC culture and the identity politics that come with it. They’re also tired of establishment politics. They want change and Trump was that change.

It’s shitty it had to go down that way, but the faster we start talking to one another instead of trying to shame the other side into silence, the more likely the chances we can stem the tide of the authoritarian Right that is poised to sweep across the West.

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31 Comments

The right is increasing in influence all across Europe, which is really a post Christian society. There seems to be two main reasons behind it:
– concern about large scale immigration of people with differing culture;
– economic uncertainty and a resultant reaction against the status quo.

In theory the second point could just as much lead to the rise of the left, but I suspect that the first point offsets that.

I suspect people get annoyed about political correctness, but I don’t think it influences voting reactions anything like the other two points do.

The irony is that the extreme right and the extreme left although disliking each other intensely are often closer to each other in policies and tactics than they are to the centre.

The things that the extremes of left and right agree on:
– only their view should be heard;
– globalisation is bad;
– the finance industry is evil;
– the status quo is corrupt.

“I suspect people get annoyed about political correctness, but I don’t think it influences voting reactions anything like the other two points do.”

I think it does because even one of the points you brought up – immigration – is stifled by PC talk. You’re simply shamed for bringing it up.

I also think PC has really led to other horrible consequences, such as open racism etc. It creates a divisive, hostile atmosphere that doesn’t promote open, honest discussion. And when you have that atmosphere, the extremes rise up.

in Australia where I live certains parts of society calls anyone who questions migration a racist and bigot. Most people find this approach annoying and patronising. A recent survey here found 50% of the population was concerned about Muslim immigration, but rather than admit there was a legitimate reason behind these concerns the media just started debating about how to ‘educate’ the public to change their views.

Absolutely, Peter. And that’s how PC social justice helps contribute to the problem. In a civilization where honest discussion is censored or silenced by the extreme Left, it’s no wonder conservative movements will rise as an attractive alternative.

Thanks for reading my post and taking the time to dissect it from your point-of-view. I could quibble with some assumptions attributed to me, but I won’t bother and can instead agree with much of what you express. We may share a lack of religious belief but we have different vantage points, and thus offer varying interpretations and remedies. I will leave before I nitpick, and just say thanks for even taking the time to read my post and add your thoughts!

Fear is a funny beast. When 9/11 happened, suddenly everyone had to ‘show their support” (whatever that means, in the big picture) for whomever they were supporting. The flags came out. Nailed to fences, draped over clotheslines, the bigger the better, whipping along the highway at 60 MPH, blinding not only the driver but his fellow drivers.
I don’t do flags. They take care, manners, and need to be brought in in the rain, dark, and carefully put away. At that point I was eternally grateful that no one can see us from the main road, since every damn house up here had The Flag. The question would have been sharp, and suspicious. “how the f— you get away with not flyin the flag, eh? you some kinda A-Rab?”

I was uncomfortable, on several levels. People were scared, edgy, and hid behind that flag as if it were bullet proof.

I can understand what he’s saying up there. His own fears, his own guilt because Trump won, he’s projecting on to people who may not be looking at him anyway at all. Put another horse in the same harness. If Hillary had won, every woman in the country would have had to defend herself for voting for her ‘because she’s a woman”. Which isnt so, not by a long shot. I’ve seen that automatic kneejerk apology several times in here, and done it myself. “Yeah, I voted for her not because she’s a woman.,..”

I’m not saying his presentation was the best, but I do think he has some valid concerns. The division between the Trump people and the non-Trump people is truly huge. My husband thought the sun rose and set on this guy. I thought it should have set ON him. We don’t discuss it. Thanksgiving this year could be interesting, I hope politics doesnt become the main course.

I completely agree that the divide is huge. There’s a breakdown in communication a mile wide between the two sides, and they both think the other side is evil incarnate. That’s part of what I find so fascinating about this whole thing, because I’m an outsider looking in. It reminds me of religion, because people behave as if they’re indoctrinated if someone challenges their narrative. It’s also why I find social justice so damn fascinating and religion as well.

I understand what he’s saying as well. I just think his reaction adds to the problem.

Thanks so much for your comment, Judy. Always nice to see you and hear your thoughts.

PS: I was thinking yesterday and wondered why you have never brought your blog over here to WP? Just curious.

I wanted to start at WP, but it was just too complicated at that point, and I even had trouble figuring out how to reply to people who WERE here.
And now I’ve been at Blogger so long I dont really want to export the thing here, nor do I want to start up a new one. Yet. I got in the door a week ago, but like the stray puppy, I backed out again.

It’s like a weird balance where if immigration is brought up, it is hijacked by the right and so the left counter balance by trying to silence anyone with who has an opinion about immigration. The truth is lost somewhere in between.

Yeah, I agree. I think the (far) right has valid points but are usually doing it for the wrong reasons, while the far Left would rather just stick cotton in their ears and forcefully place it in everyone else’s as well just for good measure.

Leftists in the United States are finding themselves on the outside looking in because all most of them see in their political opposition is a bunch of racist, sexist, bigot, xenophobe, homophobe, red necks.

American politics has traditionally been about ideas.

The Democrat Party took a hard left, anti-American turn after Lyndon Johnson was elected in 1965, promising to end poverty.

Back in 2011, a writer for the Washington Post (I forgot his name) reported that the Democrat Party had intentionally jettisoned the white working class shortly after President Obama took office in 2008.

Now leftists are blaming the victim because those victims sent the Democrat Party packing.

Racism isn’t okay no matter what color your skin is. Obviously, if Obama got into office twice, the problem isn’t primarily racism. It’s other things, which I mention in this article. Voting for Trump doesn’t equal you’re a Nazi. Some Nazi’s have voted for Trump.

I find it ironic that the right-wing Evangelicals are being accused of “single issue politics” on account of the abortion debate. Because that same issue, from the opposing viewpoint, was given to me as the reason I should sell out my real values and vote Democrat even though I’ve always voted 3rd party. “Imagine how horribly repressed women will become if their right to abortion is taken away” the demogogue’s minions told me. Little did they know, I feel very ambivalent about the idea of abortion. And though I am fine with individuals making that choice for themselves, I don’t see it as a compelling enough reason to sacrifice all the other issues I care about to take a stand on that one issue alone.

Point being, this “single issue politics” is common on both sides of the divide. And in fact, should probably be a pretty strong indication that many voters have more in common with each other that they have in opposition if they really have just ONE issue on which they base their opposition.

Where does this “ambivalence” come from? Either you can imagine the social horror that women across the world must go through, either to get an abortion or to have unwanted and uncared-for children, or you don’t, and it’s just something you don’t have the slightest concern about.
The Religious Right, and their “moderate” allies, have succeeded in making abortion into a procedure taken away from poor women in so many red states. There is no False Equivalency to be made on this issue, or any other.

Notabilia,
I could write more than one full blog post on where my ambivalency regarding the issue of abortion stems from. I don’t know if its any of your business though, until I do choose to write about it myself.

From your comment it sounds like you, Notabilia, take a hard line view of the abortion issue that is: abortion is okay and should be a right and made available for all women everywhere. And it sounds like you will not understand why anyone else would have a different opinion.

Maybe I’m reading you wrong, but that is how I interpret your comment. Yet people do have varying opinions on the issue. Some people believe abortion is killing. From a religious freedom standpoint, I think they are entitled to that belief.

I don’t think they are entitled to force women to adhere to their belief system, however. I am completely fine with women having the right to choose for themselves.

But I’m not a “single issue” voter. And if I were, this wouldn’t be my single issue. Some Democrats have told me, more or less, this is their single issue. And that it should be mine as well. But I don’t tell other people how to vote and I don’t let other people tell me how to vote. That is what democracy and freedom is all about.

Furthermore, I would be interested to know if you might consider yourself somewhat of a single issue voter when it comes to abortion. What do you think of my assertion then, that this may “be a pretty strong indication that many voters have more in common with each other that they have in opposition if they really have just ONE issue on which they base their opposition”

so one of the first shirts I picked up to wear reads “Make America Obama Again” ha good times, I have worn it twice and both times it has been enjoyable and healing to those who see it, except idiots who still think it was a good idea to increase authoritarianism and democracy because emails #MakeAmericaObamaAgain so funny of course I want to tell everybody that derp here I am commenting again on this post, I may be back with more for years to come as long as this moron reality show cast doesn’t get us all killed first smh idiots #WhichOfYouCrackersVotedForTrump

oops obviously I meant authoritarianism and *theocracy, my bad, I should really proof this stuff — frankly at this point I’m not even certain increasing *democracy is a good thing, but I digress – thanks!